#student docent

Elizabeth Olds Harlem Dancers, 1939 woodcut on paper Allocated by the U.S. Government, Commissioned through the New Deal art projects, 1943.100

As a social realist working for the Public Works of Art Project during the Great Depression, Elizabeth Olds often depicted the lives of working class people. This not only meant depicting them in factories but also in leisure activities. Black people enlivened Harlem even through the hardest times of social exclusion. Olds was able to capture the energy of dance in a people who would dominate America’s cultural landscape.

Morris Topchevsky Refugees, 1899-1950 lithograph on paper Gift of Chet LaMore, 1950/1.153

Morris Topchevsky was a Polish artist who immigrated to America with his family in 1910. The hardships he endured during this transition are felt in Refugees. The faces of a family fill the greater part of the composition, their expressions ranging from despair to fatigue. Behind, we see the horrors of the life they are leaving. The overwhelming haste of departure and the need to flee is the story of many in America.

Ann Nooney Park Panorama, 1939 lithograph on paper Allocated by the U.S. Government, Commissioned through the New Deal art projects 1943.96

Park Panorama depicts New York City’s Central Park in the foreground with a few large buildings behind it. The park is almost completely devoid of people, hosting only one car and a man on a horse who do not interact. This piece seems to serve as a reminder that isolation occurs even within a large city and this feeling is amplified by the artist’s choice to execute this piece in somber black and white.

John Sloan Votes for Women, 1912 Drawing Museum Purchase, 1964/2.154

This image depicts women with defiant expressions marching calmly for the right to vote. Their race and dress are evidence of their upper-middle class status. The fact that they are satisfied with their quiet protest prompts a contemporary viewer to question whether the goals of these women have really been accomplished and what struggles women of all class and race still face.

With our current political climate, a lot of people are asking questions. Our members of the Student Engagement Council are not excluded from this. With the hopes of encouraging discourse and contemplation, the SEC has curated an exhibition, asking questions, and maybe answering them, with art. President Trump’s campaign slogan was “Make America Great Again”, and this continues to be his goal. However, such a bold statement encourages questions, from all sides: What makes America great? When were we great? Were we ever great? Who makes America great? Who is America great for? What is greatness? 

It is these questions that the exhibition encourages its viewers to consider as they take in the show. The art is a selection of 20th century prints, mostly from the New Deal era, which was another turbulent time in American politics. The pieces are categorized into themes, such as religion, immigration, leisure, industry, protest, and isolation.